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The Flaming Lips seem to have kicked into Radiohead mode, letting fly with a slew of singles/eps of b-sides and rare tracks (For reference, Airbag/How's My Driving, My Iron Lung EP, etc.). Fight Test is the first of the Lips releases along these lines. The title track is, of course, great as was the rest of the source album. It is followed by a trio of covers that I am not sure how to feel about. The best, I think, is their piano/guitar noise driven version of Radiohead's "Knives Out." Their cover of "Golden Age" by touring partner Beck is pretty close to the original, though I would expect that from the group that doubles as his live backing band. Finally (or, rather firstly, by track order) is "Can't Get You out of My Head." That's right, by Kylie Minogue. The Flaming Lips seem to balance between irony and sincerity on this one, which makes it rather enjoyable for me. "Do You Realize??" is remixed by Scott Hardkiss into a more dancefloor ready number, but I personally feel it is a couple of steps down from the original, and removes the original versions heavy emotional impact. A true b-side to Yoshimi, "The Strange Design of Conscience" measures up to most of the tracks on its album counterpart rather well, with a nice echoing synth line providing a back bone. The ep closes on a goofier note with "Thank You Jack White (for the Fibre-Optic Jesus That You Gave Me." I've heard mixed opinions on this one, but I find it to be enjoyable and humorous, even after several repeat listens. Though they have taken a dramatic turn as of late with The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi, the band proves on this track that they still have their quirky sense of humour. This is not essential by any means, but still a good source of diversion.

This doesn't look like much, 3 of the 7 songs are covers (Well 4 if you count the title track as a Cat Stevens cover I guess, but I'm not getting into that...), and one is a techno remix of previous single "Do You Realize???", leaving a grand total of 2 previously unreleased Lips originals. But in truth, it's a pretty decent listen, and would be a good purchase for diehard fans, or people who just really liked their album Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots and want a little more. The covers are decent to great. The best being "Can't Get You Out Of My Head", where they take Kylie Minogue's overplayed dance pop hit and turn it into a meloncholy ballad that's somewhere between The Soft Bulletin and Ennion Morricone spaghetti western music, the worst being their take on Beck's "Golden Age", which while pleasantly rootsy and Neil Young-ish, doesn't really add anything to the song and carries a piano line that sort of makes it sound like a more boring version of old Lips classic "Five Stop Mother Superior Rain". The originals are pretty good, "Fight Test", despite similarities to a certain Cat Stevens song, is still a good song, but you already know that, "Strange Design Of Conscience" is a great, if overly wordy, piece of dream-pop that would have fit in perfectly on Yoshimi, and the amusingly titled "Thank You Jack White..." is sort of a throwaway, but it's got funny lyrics and a pretty entertaining downhome country feel to it. The remix, however, is the one major misstep. Although interesting in parts, it just doesn't justify it's 9 minute length, and sections of the track bring things dangerously close to "Believe" by Cher. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels the time could have been better spent on two or three more original songs, or even more covers.

The Flaming Lips produced the fantastic album "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" in 2002, and the first of those was the fantastic "Fight Test." Now it's on its own single with covers of other bands' songs -- and a few new ones by the Lips.First off is "Fight Test," unaltered from the original album, a hilariously stately cover of Kylie Minogue's dance-pop "Can't Get You Out Of My Head," a musically complex cover of Beck's "Golden Age," a harder-edged electronic cover of Radiohead's "Knives Out," a dance remix of "Do You Realize," and the likably perky "The Strange Design Of Conscience." The crowning glory is "Thank You Jack White (For the Fiber-Optic Jesus That You Gave Me)," in which the male half of the White Stripes drops off a unique gift. (Guess what it is)"Fight Test" is a pretty decent collection of covers, remixes and new songs. The more ominous, dignified version of Kylie's dance hit is hysterical; "Thank You" is cheerfully countryish. "Do You Realize" is interesting once, but not after that; it's the same as the original, except more technoish. And as always, the songs are best when they're the Lips' own ("and I said 'thank you Jack White, for the fiberoptic Jesus that you gave me'/it shined so bright I couldn't help believin' it would save me").Fans of the Lips and of "Yoshimi" should check this out. Consider it a slightly twisted extension of that much-loved album.

I praise the Lips for putting this EP out to satisfy fans like me who don't want to shell out tons of cash for expensive import singles. The "Fight Test" EP compiles the awesome "Yoshimi" track, a triplet of cover songs, a remix and two new songs (as well as a "Fight Test" video and the trailer for "Christmas on Mars"). The title track remains one of Yoshimi's strongest songs while the remix of "Do You Realize??" is not as bad as other reviews say it is. It's actually very good for a remix. It doesn't drag, which is saying something 'cause it's over nine minutes in length!As for the covers, they are good fun, especially the Kylie Minogue cover. My favorite is probably the Radiohead cover with Wayne pounding away on the piano. Really good songs.The two new tracks are very good as well. "The Strange Design of Conscience" is a soft, ethereal track focusing on the lyric "You'd have done the same thing" while "Thank You Jack White (for the Fiber-Optic Jesus that You Gave Me)" is a hilarious little ditty that rivals the White Stripes' own "Hotel Yorba" in country twang.My one complaint is that the Flaming Lips should've put more stuff on this EP, seeing as how they had released a lot more interesting material on the "Do You Realize??" singles in the UK, like the beautiful b-sides "If I Go Mad/Funeral in My Head" and "Up Above the Daily Hum" as well as unreleased tracks from the upcoming "Christmas on Mars" soundtrack, which I am really anxious to hear. Instead, we get the trailer for "Christmas on Mars" which you can already download off their official website. Well, "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" so overall, this EP is really good. I bought it along with "Zaireeka" which made for hours of Lips enjoyment. Have fun!!